After
by you-idjits
Summary: The aftermath of the events in TASM (so yeah, it's movie-verse). Completely unrelated oneshots, sometimes in different timestreams. Most of them have this in common: Peter and Gwen get together soon after, and May knows what her nephew's up to (see my other story, Quiet).
1. Penelope

**A/N: Look who's back! Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I know it's been far too long. Hey, I am on hiatus after all. I'd sort of sworn off fanfiction, but this movie was too good not to write about. I have another chapter queued up too, but I don't like it much, so I probably won't post it... Anyway, have fun with this. It's my longest piece in a little while.**

**So, bottom line:**

**To be continued. Eventually. Someday. In a few years, maybe. Heh.**

* * *

One day, Gwen returns home from school and heads straight for her room. She's got a lot of homework tonight, and there's no father around to help her with the tricky stuff.

God, she misses him. Sometimes there's just this moment at the dinner table, when she turns to the head of the table to smile at her father, and it's just an empty chair. She misses his fondness for hot chocolate. She misses the way he always smelled like donuts (maybe because he was a police officer).

It wasn't Peter's fault, she knows that. He avoided her for two weeks, but eventually they sort of slipped back into how they were before. She knows Peter wants to keep his promise to her father. But she also knows he loves her, and that is stronger. He's still trying to stay away, so they're only half-together, but it works for them.

She slides in front of her computer and starts clickity-clacking away on the keys. Chemistry this, English that. It's only after ten minutes that she hears something coming from the fire escape.

In a flash, Gwen's up and shoving open the window. Spider-Man lies on the balcony, curled up on his side. The sound she heard is breathing, Peter's heavy breathing, muffled by his mask. She ducks out the window and crouches beside him. He hasn't been back at this window since before…

Oh God. That red, that isn't his costume, that's blood.

She yanks off his mask roughly, and the sight of his face sucks the air right out of her lungs. A giant gash runs down the left side of his face, and his right eye is blackened. Both eyes are closed.

"Oh God, Peter, how long have you been out here?" she mutters. Gwen shifts her hands downward, to his abdomen, where blood is pooling. She tries to get a better look at the gaping wound. No. Oh God, no. Things are getting dizzy, her hands are scarlet with his blood, and he's not waking up. "Peter!"

Finally his eyes blink open. "Gwen?"

"What happened? Oh my- I can't- we've got to get you to the hospital-"

"Not the hospital!" His eyes widen, but they're unfocused, his pupils dilated. "Please. I- nowhere else to go." Peter swallows. "Please." He gasps, and then his eyes roll back and his lids close.

This can't be happening. He can't be here, on her fire escape again, covered in blood. This is one of her nightmares. She'll wake up. _He'll_ wake up.

She tries screaming for her mother, but it's not loud enough. Besides, she can't give Peter away. He's right; a hospital would do no good. He's still in the Spider-Man suit.

"Peter, wake up again. I don't think I can get you inside. Peter." She nudges him gently, but his eyes stay shut. She's going to have to take care of this herself.

After some concerted effort, she finally manages to get him in the window and onto her bed. Blood seeps out onto the comforter, but right now that's the least of her worries. His suit is torn and dirtied, and she has to cut him out of his shirt.

The wound is worse than she thought, a deep slash on the right side of his abs. Her hands are covered in blood, so first Gwen runs to the bathroom and washes them off, only a faint red stain remaining. Then she grabs a few clean towels and runs back to her room.

"Gwen, hon? Is everything all right?" her mom calls from the kitchen. Gwen will have to tell her mom. It's not like she can get Peter back out the fire escape before someone notices.

"It's fine!" she snaps. That can wait until later. Right now, Spider-Man is bleeding incessantly in her room.

She mops up the blood, dabbing the wound. Peter gasps in his sleep, and it makes her wince just looking at the cut. How does he do it? How does he go out, night after night? She's glad he trusted her enough, after everything, to come back to her. But it scares her too. She can't handle this alone.

"Gwen," he says quietly.

"Peter? You're awake?" She straightens, setting the bloodied towel aside.

"Gwen, 'msorry."

"Hush. Just…"

Peter lifts his head from the pillow and meets her eyes. "You were closest. Nowhere else I could… Only place I thought of… 'msorry," he says again.

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner. How long were you out there?"

He lays his head back down. "Dunno. Went unconscious. Couple of hours, I think."

Her breath catches in her throat. God, he was bleeding out there for hours, and she was just at school. "What happened?"

"I was-" Mid-sentence, he passes out again.

She goes back to cleaning his gash, and then his face. She's too much of a lady to take off the lower half of his suit, but she washes the top as best as she can. The mask and gloves she leaves on the fire escape; he can pick those up later. She wraps his stomach in gauze, lifting him gingerly as she reaches underneath him. It's a delicate business, and she shakes the entire time. There's just so much blood…

Finally, when he's sleeping peacefully under the blankets of her bed, she tiptoes out of the room to find her mother. She can't hide something this big; her mom will find out eventually. And the cramps excuse won't stop a woman the way it stopped her father all those weeks ago.

"Mom?" Gwen hesitates in the doorway of the kitchen, wringing her hands. They're still a bit red with her boyfriend's blood, but she's scrubbed them clean as best as she can.

"Yes, Gwen?" Her mother looks up from the pot on the stove. "Is something wrong?"

"It's just, um, I don't really know how to explain it…"

"What is it?"

"Well, you know, Peter, er-"

"Your boyfriend?"

"Yeah, he's sort of… in my bed."

Her mom's jaw drops open.

"No! That's not, well, I didn't mean it in that way. He, well he… He got mugged! And he's pretty badly injured." She starts spinning a tale, because anything's better than the truth. "Anyway, he was pretty close to our apartment, so he, uh, came up the fire escape."

Helen coughs. "Does he often do that?"

"No! Of course not." Well, yes, he does, but she's not about to tell her mother that. "He's just hurt, and he needed somewhere to turn."

"Maybe a hospital? If Peter is as injured as you say he is…"

"No, I bandaged him up. He's fine; he's unconscious now. I just thought, since he can't go home right now…"

Gwen's mother sighs. "Well, I suppose, if he can't be moved, he can stay for the evening. But I want that door to stay open, Gwen!"

"Thanks, Mommy," she says, leaning over to kiss her mom on the cheek. "I promise."

"Now let me see the poor boy." Helen turns off the stove burner. Gwen follows her back to the bedroom where Peter lies, fast asleep. Helen walks inside to get a closer look at his face. "He does look pretty banged up. Make sure he gets something to eat when he wakes. I have a meeting tonight, so you'll be watching your brothers. I'll explain to them what's happened."

Gwen nods, not taking her eyes off Peter. He looks so much more peaceful asleep, the corners of his mouth curling into a gentle smile.

"Honey?"

"Right. My brothers."

After a moment, her mother inhales, and says, "Look, I know these past few weeks have been hard. And it seems like something's going on between you two as well. If there's anything we can do for him…"

"I think just taking care of him is enough. And I'll call his aunt, to let her know what happened."

"The poor boy. He seems like he gets into trouble a lot."

Gwen laughs softly at that, because her mother doesn't know the half of it.

And then her mother's gone. Gwen sits down beside the boy she loves, reaching for his hand.

"Peter," she murmurs. "It's okay. It's okay to be scared, and I know you're trying to keep your promise to my father. But I'm scared too. I know you aren't listening, but I need you, Peter."

Then she drops his hand, because that was just downright cliché. Of course he can't hear her. Besides, even if he could, it's all cheesy. Nothing she can say will wake him up. For now, he just needs rest.

So she dials up his home telephone, and May Parker answers.

"Hello? Um, hi, this is Gwen Stacey."

"Oh, you're that girl Peter's always going on about, aren't you?"

Gwen smiles a little at that. "I guess. You're his aunt?"

"Has he asked you out yet?"

The smile widens. "Sort of. It's complicated. But ma'am, I'm calling because-"

"You know, my nephew really does like you. He told me he was no good for you, but I'm not going to listen to him. I hope you won't either."

Gwen doesn't know what to make of this. "I don't, Mrs. Parker. Peter is… Well, anyway. I'm calling because he's sort of at my house right now."

"Are you two studying together? Oh, that is sweet."

"No, Mrs. Parker, uh, Peter got mugged."

"What?"

"He, well, he sort of got beat up; he got cut pretty deeply. And a black eye."

There's a long silence on the other end of the phone. "Who was it this time, Lex Luthor?"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, come off it, young lady. I'm not some tottering old woman, I can put two and two together."

"You _know_?"

"Of course I know. I've known from the beginning. And my nephew most certainly did not get mugged."

"He said no one else knew."

"Well, Peter may not realize I know who he is. But I do. What happened?"

"I don't know. He sort of passed out on my fire escape. He was conscious a bit, but not long enough to tell me what happened. Uh, he's too weak to move, I think."

"I'm sure you're taking care of him well. He must love you a lot to go to you for help."

Gwen isn't sure what to say to that, so she doesn't say anything at all.

"Right. Well, give me a call if anything changes. Take care of Peter."

"I will."

There's a click on the other side as May Parker hangs up.

Gwen returns to Peter's bedside and holds his hand again. Her little brother, Simon, walks in after about half an hour.

"Gwen?"

"Yeah?" She doesn't take her eyes off Peter's bruised face.

"Are we going to eat dinner soon?"

"Yeah, hun, lemme figure out what Mom made."

"That's your boyfriend, isn't it?"

"Mhm."

"Did he get beat up?"

"Yeah."

"You really love him, don't you?"

She finally looks up at her little brother. "Yeah, I do."

Simon is wise beyond his years.

They eat soup for dinner, her and her three brothers, and they eat it all together. Her brothers ask a lot of questions about the strange boy asleep in her bedroom, and she answers them as vaguely as she can.

When they've finished and cleaned the kitchen, she makes a beeline for her bedroom.

He's awake again.

"Peter!" Before she can rethink it, she's flopped down beside him on the bed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Ow! Watch the shoulder!" He winces away from her.

"Sorry. You're awake."

"Yeah, I noticed." He smiles his goofy smile.

"And you're a lot more coherent too."

He tries to shrug, but grimaces when it hurts. "I heal quickly. I should be okay to go home tonight."

"I called your aunt."

"And?"

"I told her you got mugged." It's up to May to tell Peter that she knows; Gwen won't do it for her. "That's what I told my mom too."

"Thank you." And he means it, she can tell.

"It's nothing." She stares at him for a long moment, just grateful that he's okay. "You really scared me, Peter. You were bleeding pretty badly."

"You took care of me. The gauze was a good idea."

So, he's had time to look at her handiwork. "How long have you been awake?" She starts to stand up, but he grabs her wrist and keeps her sitting at his side.

"Just a little while. I'm hungry."

"I can bring you some soup. I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke."

"You don't have to be sorry. You've done enough for me." He laughs erratically. "I'm sorry I dropped in on you, literally."

"Any time, Peter. I mean it. Any time you're hurt, you come straight to me."

"I don't want to scare you again."

"I don't want you to die," she snaps, but then her expression softens. It terrifies her, the danger he's in. Anything she can do to help him, she'll do it. "If you get hurt that badly…"

He sighs. "This is what it's going to be like, Gwen. This is what your father wanted to protect you from. It's dangerous. I'm dangerous."

"I don't care." She leans forward and kisses him, their first kiss since before her father died. It's gentle, comforting. "You need me. You may not realize it yet, but you do. And I need you too."

She wants to tell him she loves him, but that's for another day. Whether or not she likes it, he'll be here again soon, with a new injury. It's an occupational hazard. And she'll always be here, waiting.

He is Odysseus, clever and strong, battling evil. And she is his Penelope.


	2. Back in a Flash

**A/N: Okay, this takes place a couple of months after the events of the movie. Inspired by The Amazing Spider-Man issue #4, and okay, maybe a little bit of #8 (The Peter-Flash interactions in that ish are just too good to pass up). Enjoy!**

* * *

"Parker!" the teacher snaps. "Stop daydreaming and keep your focus on the class, please."

Peter sits up quickly. He's in Chemistry. How is he in Chemistry? Just a few minutes ago it was English. He's been out of focus all day. His fight with that man last night, the one who dissolved into sand, it's really thrown him. He hasn't faced a real bad guy, with powers, since the Lizard. Sandman doesn't look nearly as bad, but it's still disconcerting. That guy could just reshape his body at will. And who knows when he'll be back? Peter saw a press conference with the police this morning. The new captain issued an arrest for Sandman. He must be a wanted criminal. But how on earth can Spider-Man stop him?

He shakes his head and returns to the present. "Sorry, Mr. Gale," Peter says, flipping open his textbook.

"Get your head out of the clouds. And speaking of clouds, when water meets oxygen…" The teacher trails off, and Peter's mind slips back out of the classroom.

But just outside Midtown Science High School, a commotion is stirring. Police sirens sound a few blocks away. A stout man in a green striped shirt sneaks through the bushes behind the school. He mutters something about a place to hide, and sneaks in the rear entrance to the school hallways.

He barges into the first classroom he sees, which is, unfortunately, the chemistry classroom.

Peter stands. It's _him_! The Sandman! How did he find him? Nobody knows Peter's secret identity, nobody but Gwen. His mind reels a hundred thousand miles an hour. How could Sandman have-

"Yo, kid, whatchoo doing standing?" Sandman gives him a dirty look and turns to the front of the classroom.

"You're that man, the criminal on TV!" Mr. Gale says.

"Oh, so you recognize me. Goody."

Peter's muscles unclench. The Sandman isn't looking for him. He hasn't figured out Peter is Spider-Man. No, it must be something else. An unfortunate coincidence, that he's barged into this classroom in this school. So Peter sits back down and ducks his head, trying now to be as unnoticeable as possible.

The Sandman pulls a gun and the kids in the classroom scream. It takes Peter a moment. Oh, right, he's supposed to be afraid of guns too. Not everyone can dodge bullets. He hesitates, then lets out a lame scream as well.

"Oh no, we're all going to die!" he says. He's gotta find a way to get out, to change into his costume. Some form of distraction.

Hang on. Gwen is in this class. She's across the room, madly trying to catch his eye. He raises two eyebrows at her, glances towards the Sandman, and nods marginally.

She nods like she understands, and then stands shakily. "Um, mister…"

"What is it, broad?" Sandman swivels towards her with the gun, and for a moment Peter really is afraid of firearms. If Gwen gets shot trying to help Peter…

He takes the opportunity to duck down and crawl to the back of the room. Most of the kids are under their lab desks at this point anyway. The door is still open a crack, and quick as a rabbit Peter slides out and into the hallway.

Free. He runs to the nearest bathroom at superhuman speed. Thirty seconds later, Peter Parker is gone, and Spider-Man takes his place. Now he just has to get back to the classroom in time to stop Sandman.

Back in the classroom, Sandman's still pointing a gun at the teacher. "Now then, if y'all will just let me stay here for a bit until the police move on, that'd be real nice. Might not even have to get messy."

"Oh, it's getting messy all right." Spider-Man swings into the room and tackles the Sandman to the floor.

Suddenly all the kids are on their feet, crying praise for him.

"You go, Spidey!" one girl says.

"Kick his ass!"

"Where did he come from?" asks another.

Gwen just smiles. "Be careful!"

Spider-Man and the Sandman grapple with each other on the floor. Every time Spider-Man gets a good grip on him, the Sandman just dissolves into sand and slips away. At one point, he hardens his fist into rock and slams Spider-Man in the gut.

Spider-Man is thrown through the wall and into the school hallway, where alarms sound. The hallways fill with screaming kids. Oh God, this is the incident with the Lizard all over again. Out of all the schools in Midtown, why this one? Why is it _always _Peter's school that gets the super-villains?

Students scream and hide in lockers or bathrooms. Others make beelines for the door. It's a fair fight.

"How- did- you- find- me?" Sandman grunts in between punches.

Spider-Man jumps back to a wall and webs his enemy from a safe distance. "Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing."

"You just won't give up, will you?"

"Nope! You messed with the wrong spider," Spider-Man teases, dodging blows.

"Picked the wrong damn high school." Sandman turns tail and heads for the door.

Like he's letting a criminal go that easily. Spider-Man starts to follow him, but Sandman turns a corner and dissolves down a grate.

Fantastic. Now he could be anywhere in the school, and through the tiny grate is the one place Spider-Man can't follow.

The halls are deserted. Peter pulls off his mask and throws it to the ground in exasperation. Not only has he missed Chemistry class, but he's now ruined a school hallway again AND the Sandman is still on the run.

But he can't have left the school yet. Peter takes a slow jog through the hallways, trying to stem the blood from his shoulder all the while. The Sandman packs a hard punch.

Whimpering comes from one of the lockers. Peter pulls it open, and out falls Flash. Well, times have changed. Once upon a time Peter was the one getting shoved into lockers by Flash.

"Flash! Have you seen the Sandman? I've gotta-"

Flash's eyes widen as he stands up. "Wait, but- what? No! No way! You can't-"

Hang on. Peter looks down at the mask in his hands. He's in the Spider-Man costume, but unmasked. Oh God.

"Heh. Awkward…"

"_You're _Spider-Man? What? I can't even-" Flash starts babbling, reaching out to touch the costume. Peter looks so different in that Spider-Man costume, blood and dirt all over, muscles showing through the suit. It doesn't make any sense.

A crash comes from down the next hallway.

"Welp! Gotta go, Flash. Catch ya later." Peter runs a hand through his hair, then shoots a web down to the end of the hallway and slingshots himself away. He can figure out the business with Flash later. What an idiot, taking off his mask while in school. Now Flash… Well, that's awkward.

Peter turns the corner, pulling his Spider-Man mask down over his face once more. It's time for another bout with the bad guys.


End file.
